Wednesday, 31 December 2014

I shall remember 2014 with great fondness and not a little
amazement and on a personal level I am sorry to let go of this year.

In a broader sense, across the world, 2014 was been a time
of turmoil, torment and torture for many people. Sometimes I think we should
just blow it all up and start again, but of course we have to do what we can
with what we have.

Highlights of my year in poetry include the following, and a
whole lot more besides.

It started like this:

New Year 2014

Stars fizz all over this still night;

while down here, on the dark road,

silence hangs chill;

broken only by our laughter

and the light in our hearts;

and the resolute crack-crack,

left-right left-right tick tack

of your boots on tarmac,as we march into this new year.

That was written from the first 52 prompt of 2014.52, set up by the fabulous Jo Bell, offered
us a new and rather excellent poetry prompt every week and the project has helped
to give some shape to my writing life.

Just briefly, since I dislike overlong blogs (and this could
go on and on and on…) my poems have been published in various journals, online
and print; and I have read them all over the place too. I was Honno Poet of the
Month in June, I read at the Dinefwr Literature Festival that month and I was
honoured to be invited by Samantha Wynne Rhydderch to read my work at the Dylan
Thomas Boathouse in Laugharne during the centenary year.

I have been away on two weekend writing workshops this year.
One on haiku with Lynne Rees ( http://www.lynnerees.com/
) at the lovely Welsh Writers Centre, Ty Newydd; the other with Marcus Moore
and Sarah-Jane Arbury, at Ceridwen, in Carmarthenshire. Both really worthwhile,
more please!

I plan to continue on the same road in 2015, whether I march
or meander remains to be seen, but there is still determination in my step and the
light of inspiration is in my heart.

I’ll still be writing to weekly prompts when I can, revising
some of the 2014 work. There will be more weekliy prompts here, from January 1st:http://challenge.wordbohemia.co.uk/2015-slant/
And there is a closed Facebook group to workshop them.

And, I have saved the best until last, I will be putting a
collection of my work together. Yes, yes, this year I will, I really will – I
plan to publish a book of poetry at the end of the summer. Work is starting on
that right now, really, right now.

May 2015 bring you all you wish for and may it also bring some
peace to this world in turmoil.

Wednesday, 17 December 2014

So, the news is out -- our local newspaper, the Tivy-Side Advertiser﻿, is to be run by
people far away who know nothing about our community, and will not care about our
concerns.

In recent years the paper has played a significant part in launching
and running campaigns on behalf of the community - to bring Cardigan Castle
into public ownership, to prevent the closure of the town's hospital, to
re-open the by-pass, to challenge a decision to scrap the Meals on Wheels
service in the county, to name but a few.

It has also continued to serve the community by consistently
raising many issues that locals want and need to be aware of, and it has
provided a forum for debate about everything from parking to flooding, to
housing development and other planning matters.

Now the publishers have decided that the Tivy-Side
editor is to be made redundant, and the paper will be run from an office 30 miles away, that unique community service will be lost.

Editors care about the communities they serve, whether they
be the people in a geographical area, or groups with specialist interests of
all kinds all over the country, or indeed the world. Without them publications
become just vehicles for profit.

As the last editor of the Tivy-Side prepares to leave, it is, sadly, clear that the publishers are
serving the demands of their shareholders over the interests of the local
community.